Undeterred by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s fearsome reputation as a “global terrorist”, it has now come to light that one of his several henchmen, Khalique Ahmad, had duped him of Rs 40 crore and eloped.

According to media reports, citing intelligence intercepts, said that Khalique was supposed to have picked up Rs 45 crore from a New Delhi-based person and sent Rs 40 crore abroad through hawala channels, after keeping Rs 5 crore as Dawood’s “transfer cost”.

However, the amount – Rs 40 crores – supposed to be sent to Dawood apparently disappeared, along with Khalique.

The Indian intelligence sleuths got wind of the “embezzlement” through tapped conversations between Jabir Moti – Dawood’s henchman in Pakistan – and Khalique Ahmad.

Importantly, Khalique used to shuttle between India and Sharjah and operated through a cell phone which was tapped by the intelligence agencies here.

The intercepts show Moti telling Khalique that Dawood’s man, Razzak bhai, had detected alleged misappropriation in the transaction. According to Razzak, Khalique misused the name of Bade Hazrat (Dawood) to swindle the money, causing a dent in the don’s reputation.

The intercepts reveal that D Company had even sent two “detectives” from Delhi to Canada on November 26, 2015 to investigate the “fraud”.

Khalique is currently believed to be hiding in Manipur, the reports said.

Half of the Rs 40 crore was supposed to be sent to a Panama bank and the other half was to meant to be invested in Dawood’s businesses abroad.

However, in the conversations, Khalique denies the embezzlement allegations and says there had been some confusion.

The intercepts also confirm that apart from dealing in arms, extortion, conflict diamonds and narco-terrorism, India’s most wanted man and global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim had taken to money laundering and controlled a chunk of the black money racket in India.

His men pick up cash from door-steps in Delhi, Mumbai and other areas and wire it to Panama, Canada, Dubai and Pakistan through hawala channels. The money is deposited in anonymous bank accounts or invested in companies.

After a few years, the money is routed back to India and returned to the owners as “white” money.